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A nurse has told a tribunal how she broke down in tears after a trans colleague allegedly asked her three times if she was getting changed from her work clothes in the changing rooms. Staff nurse Karen Danson is one of seven nurses taking County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust to an employment tribunal after a colleague, Rose Henderson, who was born male but who identifies as a woman, was allowed to use the women’s changing facilities at Darlington Memorial Hospital. Mrs Danson, who has worked for the trust since 2019, claims there was an incident at work in August 2023 when Rose Henderson was wearing just black boxer shorts and work scrubs above the waist. The witness told the employment tribunal in Newcastle that Rose Henderson asked three times if she was getting changed when they were alone together in the changing room. Mrs Danson, who had experienced sexual abuse as a child, says she froze. She went to a staff wellbeing room later, where, she told the hearing: “I broke down in tears.” Tribunal judge Seamus Sweeney told the hearing that Rose Henderson will be referred to “Rose” or “they”. The nurses bringing the claim work in the day surgery unit and have to travel to the hospital in their own clothes and change into their uniforms once they arrive. If they leave the hospital for a break they must change out of their uniforms. They are bringing a claim for sexual harassment, discrimination, victimisation and breaches of the right to a private life, under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. In their particulars of claim document, the nurses say that the health trust “permits any member of staff (regardless of sex and regardless of gender reassignment) to choose their ‘gender identity’ and to access a single-sex changing room on that basis”. A spokesperson for the health trust said: “County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust is committed to providing safe, respectful and inclusive care for patients and working environment for all colleagues. “As this matter is the subject of ongoing Employment Tribunal proceedings it would not be appropriate for the Trust to comment further while the case is active.”
